Tories won't tack to Ukip - Hague

Friday 12 January 2007 00:02 BST

Conservatives will not tack to the right to see off the electoral threat of the UK Independence Party, shadow foreign secretary William Hague has said.

Leader David Cameron's efforts to move the party onto the political centre ground over the past year have been greeted with rumblings of discontent from some traditional Tories, who have warned of a drift towards Ukip.

Ukip itself has made clear its strategy of wooing disgruntled Tories in the coming local elections by broadening its campaigning focus beyond the issue of Europe and applying its "independence" message to policies from tax to immigration and health.

But Mr Hague has insisted the Tory leadership would not respond to voices inside the party who argue that Mr Cameron must counter the Ukip threat by adopting a more robust line on Europe, immigration and tax.

While the Tories do have "tough" policies on these areas, they would not risk putting off mainstream voters by highlighting them to the exclusion of issues like health, climate change and childcare, he said.

Mr Hague told BBC1's Sunday AM: "We have a tough line on Europe alright, but if people mean, when they criticise us on it, that we should be going on every day about these policies to the exclusion of the health service and climate change and schools, then I say No to that.

"And if they say we should be saying get out of Europe altogether, then at a time when we have just welcomed the countries of eastern Europe in, I say No.

"We are not going to change. We are not going to tack to Ukip in any way and certainly not on those grounds.

"Our priority is to recapture the centre ground. The Conservative Party has to win over the person who is not very political but is worried about the state of the health service under this Government, the person who has been looking for a political leader who will really tackle climate change with other countries and change the opinion and the atmosphere in this country, and they've got that in David Cameron and that is what our emphasis has got to be on."

Mr Hague insisted that Mr Cameron's move to capture the centre ground did not mean the Tories had abandoned the tax-cutting instincts and concern over immigration that have traditionally attracted right-of-centre voters.